I have a long attention span, but this film drags on a bit much due to repetition and at times seems to dawdle. The fuel oil (later referred to as fuel "Gas") molecule looks like it has an omphalocoele. I'll have to remember that feature for my next organic exam.

The shots of Whiting, Indiana appear way to clean from what I recall that sooty smoky stinky place looking like.

OK film although a couple of the animated illustrations are not too creative and, hence, not helpful because their design doesn't address very well the point that they aim to illustrate.

Too complicated? No. Average people were simply smarter back then. And didn't have pathologically short attention spans.

Surprisingly accurate and still timely: oil refining still uses exactly the same processes described and the issues of volatility and knock are still largely true.

The only real difference is car design which use fuel injections (better fuel-air uniformity and deliver than ever possible with carburetors used when this film was created), and electronic ignition which better times the spark (for performance as close to knock as possible with dynamic feedback that can instantly adjust as use and environmental conditions change).

This has largely enabled cars to use "low octane 86/87" without knocking problems. There are still cars that require 91/92 octane - generally sports cars which try to squeeze out even more power with still higher compression ratios. You should hear a BMW Z3 when you put low octane in the tank - old school knocking with a vengeance!

Loved it..Dodsworth, you sure that the heavy molecule IS Frnak Nelson---unless he had more voices than just the familiar voice everyone would know him for? I've heard all the molecules tlak.. Ken Carpenter was also the narrator of "Speaking of Animals", from theatrical and later television showings, and that, too, was by Jerry Fairbanks,Inc.

The carbon atom narrating this is voiced by Ken Carpenter, the announcer on Bing Crosby's radio show. The heavy oil molecule is Frank Nelson.

ah, the good old days when pollution and war were noble and patriotic, if only we had taken everybody else's oil and horded our own we wouldn't have had to kill Saddam Hussien for his oil, and those pesky Iranians. They're next!

But don't even think about it, just keep driving like there's no tomorrow!

I am the type of person who always wants to know how things work, so the first part, on refining, was very interesting. However, since I already knew a little about how a gasolene engine works, the rest seemed much too simplified to be useful and probably misleading too.

Another try at the 'what happens to the gas when it goes into the gas tank' story, using much more fluid animation, but sadly totally overstays it's welcome by just going ON and ON. We see very cute droplets representing the different parts of an oil drop eg gas droplets, gasoline droplets etc (the Gas Oil droplet looks kind of obscene). From there the film gets a little too complicated to maintain the cutesy attitude in the beginning, and just maintains it for the 20 + minute running time. Far more effective was 'Down The Gasoline Trail'.